Actions for selected content:

Send content to

To send content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about sending content to .

To send content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about sending to your Kindle.

Note you can select to send to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be sent to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep articles for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services
Please confirm that you accept the terms of use.

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been used in many epidemiological studies to assess adolescent mental health problems, but cross-country comparisons of the self-report SDQ are scarce and so far failed to find a good-fitting, common, invariant measurement model across countries. The present study aims to evaluate and establish a version of the self-report SDQ that allows for a valid cross-country comparison of adolescent self-reported mental health problems.

Methods

Using the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study, the measurement model and measurement invariance of the 20 items of the self-report SDQ measuring adolescent mental health problems were evaluated. Nationally representative samples of 11-, 13- and 15-year old adolescents (n = 33 233) from seven countries of different regions in Europe (Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia) were used.

Results

In order to establish a good-fitting and common measurement model, the five reverse worded items of the self-report SDQ had to be removed. Using this revised version of the self-report SDQ, the SDQ-R, partial measurement invariance was established, indicating that latent factor means assessing conduct problems, emotional symptoms, peer relationships problems and hyperactivity-inattention problems could be validly compared across the countries in this study. Results showed that adolescents in Greece scored relatively low on almost all problem subscales, whereas adolescents in Poland scored relatively high on almost all problem subscales. Adolescents in the Netherlands reported the most divergent profile of mental health problems with the lowest levels of conduct problems, low levels of emotional symptoms and peer relationship problems, but the highest levels of hyperactivity-inattention problems.

Conclusions

With six factor loadings being non-invariant, partial measurement invariance was established, indicating that the 15-item SDQ-R could be used in our cross-country comparison of adolescent mental health problems. To move the field of internationally comparative research on adolescent mental health forward, studies should test the applicability of the SDQ-R in other countries in- and outside Europe, continue to develop the SDQ-R as a cross-country invariant measure of adolescent mental health, and examine explanations for the found country differences in adolescent mental health problems.

Various childhood social experiences have been reported to predict adult outcomes. However, it is unclear how different social contexts may influence each other's effects in the long run. This study examined the joint contribution of adolescent family and peer experiences to young adult wellbeing and functioning.

Methods

Participants came from the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) study (n = 2230). We measured family and peer relations at ages 11 and 16 (i.e. family functioning, perceived parenting, peer status, peer relationship quality), and functioning as the combination of subjective wellbeing, physical and mental health, and socio-academic functioning at age 22. Using structural equation modelling, overall functioning was indicated by two latent variables for positive and negative functioning. Positive, negative and overall functioning at young adulthood were regressed on adolescent family experiences, peer experiences and interactions between the two.

Results

Family experiences during early and mid-adolescence were most predictive for later functioning; peer experiences did not independently predict functioning. Interactions between family and peer experiences showed that both protective and risk factors can have context-dependent effects, being exacerbated or overshadowed by negative experiences or buffered by positive experiences in other contexts. Overall the effect sizes were modest at best.

Conclusions

Adolescent family relations as well as the interplay with peer experiences predict young adult functioning. This emphasizes the importance of considering the relative effects of one context in relation to the other.

Various sources indicate that mental disorders are the leading contributor to the burden of disease among youth. An important determinant of functioning is current mental health status. This study investigated whether psychiatric history has additional predictive power when predicting individual differences in functional outcomes.

Method

We used data from the Dutch TRAILS study in which 1778 youths were followed from pre-adolescence into young adulthood (retention 80%). Of those, 1584 youths were successfully interviewed, at age 19, using the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI 3.0) to assess current and past CIDI-DSM-IV mental disorders. Four outcome domains were assessed at the same time: economic (e.g. academic achievement, social benefits, financial difficulties), social (early motherhood, interpersonal conflicts, antisocial behavior), psychological (e.g. suicidality, subjective well-being, loneliness), and health behavior (e.g. smoking, problematic alcohol, cannabis use).

Results

Out of the 19 outcomes, 14 were predicted by both current and past disorders, three only by past disorders (receiving social benefits, psychiatric hospitalization, adolescent motherhood), and two only by current disorder (absenteeism, obesity). Which type of disorders was most important depended on the outcome. Adjusted for current disorder, past internalizing disorders predicted in particular psychological outcomes while externalizing disorders predicted in particular health behavior outcomes. Economic and social outcomes were predicted by a history of co-morbidity of internalizing and externalizing disorder. The risk of problematic cannabis use and alcohol consumption dropped with a history of internalizing disorder.

Conclusion

To understand current functioning, it is necessary to examine both current and past psychiatric status.

With psychopathology rising during adolescence and evidence suggesting that adult mental health burden is often due to disorders beginning in youth, it is important to investigate the epidemiology of adolescent mental disorders.

Method

We analysed data gathered at ages 11 (baseline) and 19 years from the population-based Dutch TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) study. At baseline we administered the Achenbach measures (Child Behavior Checklist, Youth Self-Report) and at age 19 years the World Health Organization's Composite International Diagnostic Interview version 3.0 (CIDI 3.0) to 1584 youths.

Results

Lifetime, 12-month and 30-day prevalences of any CIDI-DSM-IV disorder were 45, 31 and 15%, respectively. Half were severe. Anxiety disorders were the most common but the least severe whereas mood and behaviour disorders were less prevalent but more severe. Disorders persisted, mostly by recurrence in mood disorders and chronicity in anxiety disorders. Median onset age varied substantially across disorders. Having one disorder increased subjects' risk of developing another disorder. We found substantial homotypic and heterotypic continuity. Baseline problems predicted the development of diagnosable disorders in adolescence. Non-intact families and low maternal education predicted externalizing disorders. Most morbidity concentrated in 5–10% of the sample, experiencing 34–55% of all severe lifetime disorders.

Conclusions

At late adolescence, 22% of youths have experienced a severe episode and 23% only mild episodes. This psychopathology is rather persistent, mostly due to recurrence, showing both monotypic and heterotypic continuity, with family context affecting particularly externalizing disorders. High problem levels at age 11 years are modest precursors of incident adolescent disorders. The burden of mental illness concentrates in 5–10% of the adolescent population.

Subclinical psychotic experiences during adolescence may represent liability for developing psychotic disorder. Both coping style and the degree of persistence of psychotic experiences may play a role in the progression to clinical psychotic disorder, but little is known about the causal relationship between the two.

Method

Path modelling was used to examine longitudinal relationships between subclinical positive psychotic experiences and three styles of coping (task-, emotion- and avoidance-oriented) in an adolescent general population sample (n=813) assessed three times in 3 years. Distinct developmental trajectories of psychotic experiences, identified with growth mixture modelling, were compared on the use of these coping styles.

Results

Over time, emotion-oriented coping in general was bi-directionally related to psychotic experiences. No meaningful results were found for task- or avoidance-oriented coping. Females reported using a wider range of coping styles than males, but the paths between coping and psychotic experiences did not differ by gender. Persistence of psychotic experiences was associated with a greater use of emotion-oriented coping, whereas a decrease in experiences over time was associated with an increased use of task-orientated coping.

Conclusions

Emotion-oriented coping is the most important coping style in relation to psychotic experiences, as it may contribute to a ‘vicious cycle’ and is associated with persistence of experiences. In addition, more task-oriented coping may result in a decrease in psychotic experiences. Results suggest that opportunities for intervention may already be present at the level of subclinical psychosis.

Research suggests that subclinical psychotic experiences during adolescence represent the behavioral expression of liability for psychosis. Little is known, however, about the longitudinal trajectory of liability in general population samples.

Method

Growth mixture modeling was used to examine longitudinal trajectories of self-reported positive psychotic experiences in the Youth Self Report (YSR), completed three times over a period of 6 years by a general population cohort of adolescents aged 10–11 years at baseline (n=2230).

Results

Four groups with distinct developmental trajectories of low, decreasing, increasing and persistent levels of mild positive psychotic experiences were revealed. The persistent trajectory was associated strongly with cannabis use, childhood trauma, developmental problems and ethnic minority status, and consistently displayed strong associations with factors known to predict transition from subclinical psychotic experience to clinical psychotic disorder (severity of and secondary distress due to psychotic experiences, social and attentional problems and affective dysregulation) and also with high levels of parental-reported psychotic experiences and use of mental health care at the end of the follow-up period. Progressively weaker associations were found for the increasing, decreasing and low trajectories respectively.

Conclusions

The results suggest that the outcome of early developmental deviation associated with later expression of psychotic experiences is contingent on the degree of later interaction with environmental risks inducing, first, persistence of psychotic experiences and, second, progression to onset of need for care and service use. Insight into the longitudinal dynamics of risk states in representative samples may contribute to the development of targeted early intervention in psychosis.

Panic disorder (PD) is generally considered to be a chronic or intermittent disorder. This view may be biased because of a lack of general population studies investigating panic from the onset of an episode onwards. Data regarding the course of subthreshold panic disorder (sub-PD) and predictors of its course are lacking.

Method

Using data from a large community-based survey, the Netherlands Mental Health and Incidence Study (NEMESIS), that retrospectively assessed the 2-year course of panic with a Life Chart Interview (LCI), this study investigated remission, chronicity and recurrence in subjects with new episodes of PD or sub-PD. Predictor variables of remission consisted of sociodemographics, psychobiological, environmental, psychiatric and panic-related factors.

Results

In PD, remission of panic attacks occurred in 64.5% of subjects, mean time to remission was 5.7 months, and the remission rate was 5.8/100 person-months. In 43.3% of subjects panic was still present after 1 year. Recurrence of panic attacks occurred in 21.4% of those with PD who had achieved remission and for whom sufficient follow-up time was available. In general, the course of sub-PD was more favourable. Predictors of remission were female gender, the absence of ongoing difficulties, subthreshold panic and a low initial frequency of attacks.

Conclusions

These results suggest that the course of panic is diverse in the general population, thereby underlining the need for accurate predictors. This requires further research including biological data and additional psychological data. In addition, given the large proportion with a relapse, relapse prevention should be part of any treatment programme.

Summary

INTRODUCTION

In his seminal work on generational identity and the intergenerational transmission of ideas, Mannheim (1928) already stated that under “normal” social conditions, the ideas of youth resemble those of adults. Only in times of intense social turmoil is it likely that young people start realizing that the conditions they have to face while growing up have changed drastically from those under which their parents grew up and that their worldview should change accordingly. The culturally most sensitive part of a cohort of young people might voice its opinions and create a consciousness that might become the trademark of a larger group of a youth generation, consciously setting itself apart from the habits and ideas of an older generation.

Mannheim (1928) wrote this part of his work in post–World War I Germany, where a demoralized young-adult generation, wary of war and nationalistic slogans, expressed intense dissent with the optimistic bourgeois outlook that had prevailed in the last decades of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th. The war itself, the socialist revolution attempts of 1918–1919, and the highly unstable social and political climate in the Weimar Republic fostered a generational consciousness among a group of young adults who had left their youth in the trenches of the Great War. To those young men, the future looked bleak and all bourgeois claims of imminent progress and grand visions of Germany's geopolitical prominence, as espoused throughout the countries' educational system, seemed a fraud.

Background. We investigated the links between familial loading, preadolescent temperament, and internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence, hereby distinguishing effects on maladjustment in general versus dimension-specific effects on either internalizing or externalizing problems.

Method. In a population-based sample of 2230 preadolescents (10–11 years) familial loading (parental lifetime psychopathology) and offspring temperament were assessed at baseline by parent report, and offspring psychopathology at 2·5-years follow-up by self-report, teacher report and parent report. We used purified measures of temperament and psychopathology and partialled out shared variance between internalizing and externalizing problems.

Results. Familial loading of internalizing psychopathology predicted offspring internalizing but not externalizing problems, whereas familial loading of externalizing psychopathology predicted offspring externalizing but not internalizing problems. Both familial loadings were associated with Frustration, low Effortful Control, and Fear. Frustration acted as a general risk factor predicting severity of maladjustment; low Effortful Control and Fear acted as dimension-specific risk factors that predicted a particular type of psychopathology; whereas Shyness, High-Intensity Pleasure, and Affiliation acted as direction markers that steered the conditional probability of internalizing versus externalizing problems, in the event of maladjustment. Temperament traits mediated one-third of the association between familial loading and psychopathology. Findings were robust across different composite measures of psychopathology, and applied to girls as well as boys.

Conclusions. With regard to familial loading and temperament, it is important to distinguish general risk factors (Frustration) from dimension-specific risk factors (familial loadings, Effortful Control, Fear), and direction markers that act as pathoplastic factors (Shyness, High-Intensity Pleasure, Affiliation) from both types of risk factors. About one-third of familial loading effects on psychopathology in early adolescence are mediated by temperament.

Background. In order to investigate whether correlated but separable symptom dimensions that have been identified in clinical samples also have a distribution in the general population, the underlying structure of symptoms of depression, mania and psychosis was studied in a general population sample of 7072 individuals.

Method. Data were obtained from the three measurements of the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study (NEMESIS). Symptoms of depression, mania and the positive symptoms of psychosis were assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Confirmatory factor-analysis was used to test statistically the fit of hypothesized models of one, two, three or seven dimensions.

Results. The seven-dimensional model comprising core depression, sleep problems, suicidal thoughts, mania, paranoid delusions, first-rank delusions and hallucinations fitted the data best, whereas the unidimensional model obtained the poorest fit. This pattern of results could be replicated at both follow-up measurements. The results were similar for the subsamples with and without a lifetime DSM-III-R diagnosis. The seven dimensions were moderately to strongly correlated, with correlations ranging from 0·18 to 0·73 (mean 0·45).

Conclusions. In the general population, seven correlated but separable dimensions of experiences exist that resemble dimensions of psychopathology seen in clinical samples with severe mental illness. The substantial correlations between these dimensions in clinical and non-clinical samples may suggest that there is aetiological overlap between the different dimensions regardless of level of severity and diagnosable disorder.

In the UK and The Netherlands, people with high rates of psychosis are chronically exposed to discrimination.

Aims

To test whether perceived discrimination is associated longitudinally with onset of psychosis.

Method

A 3-year prospective study of cohorts with no history of psychosis and differential rates of reported discrimination on the basis of age, gender, disability, appearance, skin colour or ethnicity and sexual orientation was conducted in the Dutch general population (n=4076). The main outcome was onset of psychotic symptoms (delusions and hallucinations).

Results

The rate of delusional ideation was 0.5% (n=19) in those who did not report discrimination, 0.9% (n=4) in those who reported discrimination in one domain, and 2.7% (n=3) in those who reported discrimination in more than one domain (exact P=0.027). This association remained after adjustment for possible confounders. No association was found between baseline discrimination and onset of hallucinatory experiences.

Conclusions

Perceived discrimination may induce delusional ideation and thus contribute to the high observed rates of psychotic disorder in exposed minority populations.

Background. People with a mental disorder have high rates of service utilization for emotional or addiction problems. Little is known about the role of functional impairments and low social support in such service use. This article investigates: (1) whether the presence of multiple functional impairments mediates the link between mental disorder and service use; and (2) whether social support modifies that association.

Methods. Data were derived from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study, NEMESIS, a prospective general population study. Predictors of service use (mental disorder; functional impairments; social support) were recorded in the second wave of the study, and service use in the third wave.

Results. Persons with a DSM-III-R disorder and persons with multiple functional impairments were three to seven times as likely to use primary or mental health care. People with low perceived social support were two to three times as likely to use them, and living alone increased the likelihood by 30% to 80%. The effect of mental disorder on service use was mediated by multiple functional impairments. In people with a mental disorder, low levels of social support intensified mental health service use.

Conclusion. Service utilization by people with mental problems can be better understood through a model incorporating: (1) independent effects of mental disorder, functional impairments and social support on service use; (2) a mediating effect of multiple functional impairments on the link between mental disorder and service use; and (3) interaction effects of mental disorder and low social support on service use.

Recommend this

Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this to your organisation's collection.